CHAPTER 389: CHAPTER 158: THE COURAGEOUS, CLEVER, RESOURCEFUL CHILD WHO IS ALSO SOMEWHAT FORMIDABLE (6K)

The Five Sects War has been going on for several years now. Everyone involved has become much more composed.

People chatted with smiles, reminiscing about the past. Sometimes they mentioned acquaintances they would never see again, filled with regret and sighs.

"You are currently ranked sixth on the Kill List of Cangyan Daoist Palace. Especially with Sima Demoness remembering you, you must be careful when you travel. There are many who want your head."

After several rounds of drinks, Li Daoxuan reminded Zhou Qing, who nodded in gratitude.

"Lately, those guys from the Phecda Sect have been using Celestial Secret Skills to disguise themselves as members of our Three Sects Alliance, pretending to be besieged and deceiving us into rescuing them. Many have fallen into this trap."

Li Daoxuan spoke with anger, further cautioning Zhou Qing and He Han.

Outside, what you see may not be real. Always be cautious, very cautious!

Later, he shared some of his experiences, including details of the dangers he encountered and the lessons he learned, hoping everyone would take heed.

"I probably won’t stay long this time; I’ll be heading out again soon. This ’Realm’ is unbelievably difficult!" Li Daoxuan said with a bitter smile.

He Han remained silent and gave his senior brother a silent toast.

He was now at the late Nascent Soul Realm, not knowing when he would achieve Perfection, let alone Divinity Transformation.

The path of cultivation becomes increasingly difficult, and its hardships are known only to oneself.

"How are you doing now?" Li Daoxuan asked Lu Yaoyao after a drink.

Lu Yaoyao replied, "I can feel the bottleneck to Nascent Soul, but truly touching it will take time."

Li Daoxuan was relieved: "Don’t rush. You are at the Great Perfection of the Golden Core Realm, with a Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment. It’s only a matter of time before you break through. Avoid taking things like the Nascent Soul Formation Pill."

Lu Yaoyao nodded, indicating she wouldn’t.

After some more idle chatter, Li Daoxuan stood up with his wine cup and walked outside, looking at the Jade Dining Hall with a complex gaze, then drank it all in one gulp.

"The number of people eating here has really decreased!"

...

Li Daoxuan left quietly on a night three days later, while Zhou Qing requested a humanoid puppet from the sect for research purposes.

Two months later, he finally condensed twenty Spirit Seals, meaning he could start handling the thousands of First-Level Arrays left by Master Xuanqing.

All were One-color Arrays, far more powerful than ordinary arrays.

"Although the array within the puppet wasn’t documented by Master Xuanqing, I might slowly reverse-engineer it!"

Zhou Qing now had a certain level of understanding about arrays and felt confident.

This world is vast; who knows how many cultivation countries there are? Not to mention the Starry Battlefield.

Although Master Xuanqing was a Ninth-Level Array Master, he only left the portions he understood and mastered. After all, one’s knowledge and learning are ultimately limited.

Like alchemists, everyone has their unique pill formulas, and everything in this world is constantly innovating, with countless new things emerging.

What Zhou Qing could do was not just guard that bit of treasure but be adept at discovery and associative reasoning.

Time passed day by day, and oddly enough, the array embedded in the puppet seemed to be constantly changing.

No wonder the sect had no clue; it’s truly difficult to crack it successfully.

"What, you want to crack it? I advise you to save your effort!" On this day, Yan Xiaohu came with Lei Luo.

Seeing Zhou Qing racking his brains and contemplating over the black-robed puppet, he couldn’t help but offer advice.

Lei Luo also nodded, agreeing: "Brother Zhou, I heard the Sect Leader say he once showed these puppets to a genuine second-level array master, who was even honored by the County Governor of Longyuan County."

"Even he couldn’t find a way to crack them, so we, as amateurs, certainly can’t!"

Zhou Qing was stunned—was it really that outrageous?

Yan Xiaohu squatted nearby, teasing the old hen and said, "Of course, not just Lei Wuji the elder, but our side too. Moreover, through research, all puppet internal arrays have slight differences."

"I speculate Cangyan Daoist Palace has a mother source; to resolve those black-robed puppets, either overpower and kill them or directly deal with the mother source for a permanent solution."

Zhou Qing frowned.

Is this why those base points were brought back to Cangyan Daoist Palace after initial embedding?

If that’s the case, how can we manage? The Cangyan Daoist Palace cannot be breached, while they can continuously manufacture them. Eventually, it becomes a one-sided situation in terms of numbers and strength, putting us at a great disadvantage.

Seemingly seeing Zhou Qing’s concern, Yan Xiaohu smiled and said, "Relax. I heard from my master, the materials for making arrays are very rare and difficult, not easy at all. Also, do you know the queen ant?"

"What do you mean?" Zhou Qing was puzzled.

Yan Xiaohu said, "The queen ant is the ruler of the ant world. No matter how productive it is, it will reach saturation. Like my Nascent Soul Divine Sense, it can only extend to the mountain beyond, unable to go further because my cultivation restricts me."